Ben's second-car thread - MR2s and Westfields inside...

[JD]

This looks like ridiculous fun. You ever wear a helmet for road driving?

[Ben]

Muchly improved- I like!

Thanks Ash - yep, it;s so much more usable now I can see what's going on when driving! It's hard to see in the photos, but the bare ally has a lovely texture to it as well. very cool

I would very much like one of these one day with the shiny side pipes!

I've never actually polished them, tbh... it's a bit of a 'working' car up close! Quite refreshing to be able to just drive it and not worry about how clean it is

This looks like ridiculous fun. You ever wear a helmet for road driving?

Oh, it is

And yes, I wear a full-face lid most of the time. Anything over 50mph and glasses aren't really enough (although it's quite fun if you're just pootering (new word) around....). Now the carbs have been balanced as well it's so bloody quick when it hits cam... 7k RPM appears very quickly and you're soon into license-losing territory. Helps to be able to see where you're going!

[synXero]

I would very much like one of these one day with the shiny side pipes!

I've never actually polished them, tbh... it's a bit of a 'working' car up close! Quite refreshing to be able to just drive it and not worry about how clean it is

Totally mine would have to be black black black black black too. Black wheels, black out the side pipes too

[Ben]

I would very much like one of these one day with the shiny side pipes!

I've never actually polished them, tbh... it's a bit of a 'working' car up close! Quite refreshing to be able to just drive it and not worry about how clean it is

Totally mine would have to be black black black black black too. Black wheels, black out the side pipes too

[Ben]

This looks like ridiculous fun. You ever wear a helmet for road driving?

Pair of helmets

[Ben]

A bellyful of fresh oil at the weekend and a few little tweaks here and there - a rattle at certain revs was traced to the sump guard and I've cured a couple of minor coolant leaks as well. Lack of use also meant the choke wasn't disengaging properly, so a bit of fiddling with some GT85 freed it all up again. I'm encouraged to see the temp gauge sitting where it should now as well - the digidash never read correctly so it's a bit of a relief to see it sitting quite happily dead centre on the gauge. (Edit: damn, not quite - more on that later)

I've also booked it onto the Javelin Sprint Series round at Woodbridge on the 21st June. The only other car in my class is a ‘proper’ Caterham and the driver has been competing for at least a year, so I’m not expecting to be at all competitive. Still, it’ll be entertaining at least!

And one last pic of the garage (promise!)

[Ben]

Booked in for the Javelin Sprint Series round at Woodbridge (run alongside the Toyota Sprint Series). I've done a couple of trackdays in it now, but this'll be my first timed/competitive event.

The only other car in my class is a 'proper' Caterham...

[Ben]

Few more jobs sorted at the weekend:

I've butchered two sets of mirrors to make one decent set. So I now have some nice convex glass on some sturdy mounts - first time I've ever been able to get a clear idea of what's behind me

The bonnet has been slowly slicing into the Pipercross filter over the last couple of years. I'll get another on order soon, but to prevent the issue getting any worse I've fitted some rubber trim around the cut to take the edge off it. Actually looks a lot smarter than I was expecting!

The sump guard was rattling against the chassis at certain revs, so sourced an additional bolt to replace the one that apparently shook itself loose. No more rattling.

A bit of play in the steering rack was traced to a couple of lightly loose joints. All tightened up, play eliminated.

Exhaust manifold gasket replaced after it started blowing. The exhaust headers aren't as perfectly flat as they should be so I've taken Phil's approach and doubled up on the gaskets - if it lasts a couple of years like the old ones I'll be happy enough

Finally, I've had a weird electrical 'characteristic' since I bought the car, which has been prevalent with both the old and the new dash setup... once the engine gets up to temperature, if I switch on the engine fan the temp jumps up about 20*C

In fact, similar things happened every time something electrical was switched on

Turns out (and thanks to Pete, as ever, for explaining things to me I don't understand) that earth straps are pretty useful things! It had an earth strap from the battery to the gearbox... but not one to the chassis. Hmm. Now fitted with battery-->gearbox, battery-->chassis and gearbox-->chassis, and all is well! The temp gauge sits exactly where it should, none (neither!) of the gauges move even if I switch on all of the electrics, and now I can properly keep an eye on temps













Took it for a drive afterwards, and it's amazing how much difference the little things can make. It was like driving a different car!

[craig]

Nice to see you keeping busy Ben! Taking it to Le Mans next year?

[Ben]

Not unless I can use your boot space

100 mile tank range might be an issue too

[craig]

Not unless I can use your boot space

100 mile tank range might be an issue too

With all Becky's crap, I'll struggle to fit a sheet of paper in the boot!

tank range is better than Pete's Noble.

[JD]

Yeah I was gonna say that's much further than anyone pushing the pedal on a 3/5SGTE will get

[pistol pete]

well done there sir
good work.. glad the straps have worked

[gavsdavs]

Nice work - and good luck in the sprint series...

[Ben]

So, yesterday was my first go at sprinting…

Having watched Pete compete in his MR2 in the Toyota Sprint Series, it didn’t take much persuasion for me to enter a round of the Javelin Sprint Series. Both series are operated by Javelin and run simultaneously through the day using the same circuit, timing equipment etc. The Javelin series is open to all marques and runs a fairly loose class structure accordingly – on the same day there was everything from a Yaris Hybrid to an Ultima GTR!

This round was at RAF Woodbridge, with a very technical layout paired with lots of ‘interesting’ surface changes. Having done a handful of trackdays this was my first timed/competitive event, and to be honest I didn’t know what to expect. All I knew was that I was in a class of three – me, a track-prepped Caterham running a 160 VVC k-series, and another Westfield – which turned out to running a 3.0 V6 Duratec with 100bhp more than me. Gulp.

After a couple of sighting laps and an untimed practice run I was still struggling to piece together the twisty circuit in my mind – my first time was 1:52.8. A couple more runs and I was starting to get more confidence in the car and getting a feel for the lines, but I was struggling massively with heel-and-toeing – frustrating, as this is normally second nature for me. I think I need to reconfigure the pedal setup a tad (or buy myself some new feet!). After a few runs with frustrating mistakes, including a *small* spin at the end of the back-straight, my times started falling. I finally got down to 1:47.2 on my first run after lunch, which I was happy with, but felt I still hadn’t had a good clean run. Naturally, I then fluffed up my next two runs – the first was tidier but slower (more brave needed!) and the second was horrendous – missed braking points, missed gears, terrible lines, the works. I was pretty frustrated with myself. When finally I lined up for my last run of the day I sat in the queue just thinking to myself “braking, braking, braking.” The start was tidy, and once I made it through the twisty midsection with a clean set of braking points and downchanges I started thinking it could be a good time. I hammered down the final straight and through the final two chicanes and caught a glimpse of the timing board: 1:46.06! I was over the moon, so pleased to have knocked over a second off a time I thought I couldn’t beat. It’s a hell of a rush!

A few pics below, I’m hoping for a few more once the sight photographer puts his photos up. It was an excellent day in all – made even better by the fact that I was 2-3 seconds ahead of the Caterham to take 2nd in class (predictably, the mental V6 Westfield was miles ahead...!)

Big congratulations to Pete as well, who not only put up with my feverish ramblings for a day and a half but also managed to take home a class win and the Hard Charger award. The fact that his 1000kg MR2 was only a second slower than me in a 600kg Westfield goes to show how well deserved it was! I need some sticky tyres….









And I borrowed Pete’s GoPro for what turned out to be my fastest lap of the morning. It’s pretty messy still, with plenty of sideways and a missed gearchange slowing me down. I promise my later runs were neater!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WvRLziLpCSc

[pistol pete]

was awesome day buddy.. great to have a "mate" there too
looks like we might have a astra R888 ex touring car joining us for croft..

looks like some of daves pic came out okay

[Ben]

Yep, I'd say he had about a 5% hit rate

I'm off to Leeds this evening for 3-4 days so sorting through them will give me something to do

[Ben]

Posted a similar thread on the Westfield owners club.

First response:

Any reason why you have not joined the Westfield Speed Series???

[pistol pete]

ha because ours is better
get some new shoes... then the pedals will work
did he get any good ones of mine?

[Ben]

A few, yes - I'll sift through them this week